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Fairy
History Back in the days of magic, Fairies were a very common sight in any realm. They were visitors from the Feywild, a separate plane all to their own, coming through portals made by Summoners. Nearly all mages had friends among the Fairies, for their magical attunement and different perspective on how magic works made them often invaluable. They were incredibly curious, which led many of them to be tricksters and thieves. However, since the Death of Magic, Fairies suffered more than most races. Being cut off from their home plane, left many abandoned by their families and friends, led to depression, wasting away, and suicide of many of their kind. Those that managed to endure that, also had to deal with the loss of personal magic as well. Their dependency on magic had been like an addiction, and many turned to drinking or drugs to fill the void, while others cast their anger outward and dedicated their lives fully to crime. Many of the Fairies nowadays don't have as many of these tendencies as their predecessors. However, the rumor of people spontaneously gaining magical abilities has spurred a drive in many Fairies to find these people and befriend them, or at the very least, use them. Biology Physical Appearance Fairies are built on a humanoid base, with roughly the proportions of humans and the same number of digits. With their pointed ears and slender, graceful forms, they somewhat resemble elves in miniature. This appearance is, of course, somewhat offset by the signature trait of fairies: their fragile, iridescent wings. These wings often resemble the wings of butterflies and dragonflies, though some fairies have coloration patterns that don't seem to correlate to anything in nature. Each fairy has a unique wing design, at least as far as history has documented. Common Traits Fairies generally have five digits per limb like most humanoid races. They are divided into two genders as most races are. Females tend to be somewhat smaller than males. Some fairies are known to have a faint luminescence (more often seen in fairies who have habits of smoking or eating glowing mushrooms, or drinking firefly whiskey, though the habits haven't been proven to cause the luminescence) and some have luminescent wings though their bodies don't glow. Psychology To say that fairies have a messed up psyche is an understatement. Out of the older generations, the ones who remember the fall of magic, there are high rates of depression and loneliness, and many use drugs or alcohol. In the middle generations, the ones who's parents and grandparents were dealing with the fall of magic, many turned to violence and crime, just to get some sort of reaction out of their otherwise distant and seemingly uncaring older relatives. The necessary effect of this was that the most recent generations haven't had very much of a nurturing environment, though the older generations have somewhat stepped up to teach and educate the young ones to ensure the race doesn't spiral into dysfunction. Reproduction and Development Fairies reproduce much like most humans do. After a gestation period of about 90 days, usually a single offspring, but rarely twins or triplets, will be born. Fairy babies are born without wings; their wings begin to grow in at some point during the first year, as they're learning to walk, and most take their first flight right around their second birthday. It should also be noted that fairies, especially young ones, are a fairly promiscuous bunch. It is rather common for young fairies, both those in relationships and single ones, to engage in intimate interactions multiple times a day. For fairies who follow this behavioral pattern, an activity termed "Pollinating" has become extremely popular: The parties engage in sexual intercourse while lying on the blossoms of a flowering plant, then go to another flowering plant of the same type and repeat the process, in effect spreading pollen (in more ways than one.) Generally, the rule of thumb to follow when around young fairies is, "If the flowers are rockin', don't come a'knockin'." (Unless, of course, you want to let off some steam. In which case, by all means DO come a'knockin.) Society Social Structure Fairies in Tessanis tend to form communities of between 10 and 100 individuals and stay out of sight. There is no formal hierarchy though some of the larger communities do have an elected mayor. There have been several fairy communities that have formed over the last three centuries, and several that date before the fall of magic. Many of these are found throughout the Chartric forest, as the tree cover and isolation makes it possible for fairies to travel between communities for trading and exchange of news rather easily. Language Most fairies are fluent in Eldaiën, their people's language. Some, namely most of the ones who live close to human settlements, are fluent in the common tongue used by all citizens of Tessanis. Names Fairies have their given name and their family name, a tradition that they took from the humans of Tessanis. In their home plane, fairies would be given a name by their parents, their Henaeneth (child-name), and would choose their own Sanyaeneth (true-name) on their seventh birthday. Family Life Fairies typically have rather large families, often ten or more children spread over fifty years or so. With such long lifespans some fairies will have 100 or more children. But many fairies don't reproduce, instead dedicating their lives fully to their crafts (or to their addictions). Fairy children typically have an extremely close bond with the siblings closest to them in age, though they might not even know their siblings who are much older or younger. Everyday Life It varies from town to town, but female fairies are generally seen as homemakers. They may run a small herbalism or seamstressing shop, or an eating house that connects to their home, but traditionally they do domestic crafts while the men do the hunting and fighting and protecting the village. Fairy children are educated at home for the first two years and taught basic letters, numbers, and household skills. Then, once they can fly (it's always a liability in treetop villages having kids who can't fly running around) they are sent to more formal schooling, typically done by the elders of the town or village, where they learn history and more advanced language and mathematics, and begin learning various crafts. At the age of four, fairy children are looked over by the artisans of the village and are chosen to be apprentices; male children are most often apprenticed to hunters and guardsmen, while female children are usually apprenticed to seamstresses and cooks. For adults without children, there is little to do but their craft. With sometimes over a thousand years to practice their craft, fairy artisans are extremely good at what they do and fairy goods, from metalwork to seamstressing and cooking, are of extremely high quality. Character Sheet Details Racial Bonus: +30 Aerobatics, Investigation, OR Throwing Weapons Special Abilities: Flight, Enhanced memory of written word, Trance Achieves adulthood in 7 years, can live over 1000 years. Trance is a meditative state that Fairies enter into in lieu of sleep. While in Trance, the Fairy is fully aware of their surroundings while also receiving the benefits of sleeping. Tags Fey